Erika Nay Girardi (née Chahoy; born July 10, 1971), known
professionally as Erika Jayne, is an American singer, actress and
television personality. Her debut single "Roller Coaster" topped the
US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in 2007. She has attained nine
number-one songs on the Dance Club Songs chart as of 2020[update]. In
2016, Billboard ranked her number 42 on their list of greatest dance
club artists of all time and number 3 on their list of the Next Big
Sound.Girardi launched her film and television career as an actress in
the early 1990s, playing small roles on Law & Order and High Incident.
In 2015, Girardi became a full-time cast member on the sixth season of
the reality television series The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,
followed by her role on the competition series Dancing with the Stars
in 2017. She has played a recurring role as real estate agent Farrah
Dubose on the American television soap opera The Young and the
Restless. She made her Broadway debut in Chicago as Roxie Hart on
January 6, 2020.Girardi launched her film and television career as an
actress in the early 1990s, playing small roles on Law & Order and
High Incident. In 2015, Girardi became a full-time cast member on the
sixth season of the reality television series The Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills, followed by her role on the competition series Dancing
with the Stars in 2017. She has played a recurring role as real estate
agent Farrah Dubose on the American television soap opera The Young
and the Restless. She made her Broadway debut in Chicago as Roxie Hart
on January 6, 2020.Erika Girardi was born in Atlanta, Georgia on July
10, 1971, to a single mother, Renee Chahoy. Her mother, an actress and
a classically trained pianist, gave birth to Girardi at age 18.
Girardi's parents broke up before her first birthday. Describing her
childhood in her book Pretty Mess, Girardi states that her mother was
"short with me, hard on me, and irritable. She would snatch my
ponytail, dig her nails into my arm, and step on my feet. And that was
in public." Girardi was later adopted by her stepfather, who married
and divorced her mother twice. He cut off contact after the second
divorce from her mother. Girardi met her biological father for the
first time at the age of 25 and compared it to "meeting a stranger".
Girardi has met her biological father three times, saying "he had
never, ever acknowledged my existence, to anyone, and obviously to
himself, as well." Girardi has said that her tough upbringing made her
grow up quickly and taught her to be self-reliant. She had a close
relationship with her grandparents, Hollis and Ann Peek. Girardi's
grandfather whom she called "the only father I've ever known", died in
July 2010 at the age of 81. Her grandmother died of Alzheimer's
disease in November 2014 at the age of 86. "My grandmother and I used
to speak on the phone for an hour every day about nothing. When those
phone calls stopped, that was the hardest. Because I knew she could no
longer communicate. I had always gotten such strength and such love
from those phone calls and when they stopped, it was a real marker of,
'This is over, Erika. The woman that you know is no longer,'" she said
in an episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.Girardi
graduated from North Atlanta High School. She enrolled in a magnet
program for the performing arts in high school, saying, "That’s
where you really learned to love the stage and really hone your early
performing skills. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything in
the world." She joined musical theater in high school, playing roles
such as Val from A Chorus Line and Frastrada in Pippin. She toured
abroad in the school revue show where she performed "9 to 5" by Dolly
Parton and "Into The Groove" by Madonna. Her first jobs in the
entertainment industry included doing modeling and local commercials
as a child. At 18, she moved to New York City. She performed as a
member of several girl groups while living in New York, including
recording songs with The Flirts and performing with I-Dolls. During
this time she met Italian Thomas Zizzo, when he was working as a DJ at
a club in Manhattan. The couple got married in December 1991 at St.
Patrick's Cathedral. She described the wedding as "big, obnoxious, and
pink." Soon after she gave birth to a son, Thomas Zizzo, Jr. After the
couple divorced a few years later, she relocated to Los Angeles to
pursue her dream of becoming a singer and performer. Erika Jayne Top Movies & Young Movies